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Would catering be for me?
Catering is about providing food and beverage for events held at venues other than restaurants, cafés and other traditional eating places. When you go to a function such as a wedding reception or a conference where food and drinks are served, it is the caterer who has done the work. When you have a stay in hospital or go to the football – there are caterers busy behind the scenes preparing and serving meals and snacks. So catering often involves not only preparing the food, but transporting it to a venue somewhere away from where it was prepared as well.
There are two main types of catering:
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• Catering for events and functions such as conferences, festivals, dinners and celebrations
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• Catering for institutions such as schools, hospitals, aged-care facilities, prisons, the defence forces and for transport like planes, trains and cruise ships.
Both types of catering offer good career paths in cooking, the service area and in managing and organization. You will need similar skills as for any of these job roles in the hospitality industry generally but it helps also to be flexible, creative and have knowledge about different cultures’ customs for food and its preparation.
As for any job in hospitality, there is a great variety of venues and types of places you can work in, so it’s likely you’ll be able to find one that suits you. One of the advantages of working in catering is that it offers more choice in the hours you can work than in other areas of the hospitality industry. You might work Monday to Friday in a hospital for example, or just lunch times in a canteen or cafeteria. Alternatively, you may choose to work part-time or on a casual basis for particular functions. Jobs in large catering firms could be nine to five, five days a week as in other industries and workplaces.
Catering is often described as the “hidden” side of the hospitality industry but jobs in catering can be challenging and creative, and very rewarding, knowing for instance that in working in a hospital or school, you are helping the community.